Phys.org news tagged with:simulationhttps://phys.org/
en-usPhys.org internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine.Physical properties of solids elucidated by zooming in and out of high resolutionComputer simulations are used to understand the properties of soft matter—such as liquids, polymers and biomolecules like DNA -which are too complicated to be described by equations. They are often too expensive to simulate in full, given the intensive computational power required. Instead, a helpful strategy is to couple an accurate model—applied in the areas of the system that require greater attention—with a simpler, idealised model.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-physical-properties-solids-elucidated-high.html
General Physics Thu, 24 May 2018 10:41:08 EDTnews446377262Researchers discover non-canonical ion channel activation pathwayThe passage of ions through the cell membrane is controlled by ion channels, which are protein complexes that regulate vital processes, such as the heartbeat, and are a target of drug development. Now, a study at the University of Wisconsin, led by a Spanish researcher, presents a novel model to explain how the pores of these channels open and close.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-non-canonical-ion-channel-pathway.html
Cell & Microbiology Fri, 18 May 2018 07:41:44 EDTnews445847987Supercomputing the emergence of material behaviorWhat makes kevlar stop a bullet, at the atomic level?https://phys.org/news/2018-05-supercomputing-emergence-material-behavior.html
Materials Science Thu, 17 May 2018 14:02:00 EDTnews445784505Volunteers work to save vintage train simulator in BerlinHydraulic systems jerk and pull the metal train cab back and forth as the driver pilots it along the tracks of Berlin's commuter rail system, as images of the city just after the fall of the Berlin Wall whiz by.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-volunteers-vintage-simulator-berlin.html
Other Thu, 10 May 2018 07:37:21 EDTnews445156596Tiny fossils unlock clues to Earth's climate half a billion years agoAn international collaboration of scientists, led by the University of Leicester, has investigated Earth's climate over half a billion years ago by combining climate models and chemical analyses of fossil shells about 1mm long.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-tiny-fossils-clues-earth-climate.html
Earth Sciences Wed, 09 May 2018 14:00:07 EDTnews445091226Surviving the inferno of entry, descent and landingAnticipation is building as preparations are well underway for the launch of NASA's next Mars mission, InSight. But before the roar of the rocket lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base has subsided, a NASA team will be hard at work preparing for the lander's eventual plunge through the Martian atmosphere.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-surviving-inferno-entry-descent.html
Space Exploration Mon, 07 May 2018 06:20:33 EDTnews444892775Laser-driven electron recollision remembers molecular orbital structureScientists from the Max Born Institute for Nonlinear Optics and Short Pulse Spectroscopy (MBI) in Berlin combined state-of-the-art experiments and numerical simulations to test a fundamental assumption underlying strong-field physics. Their results refine our understanding of strong-field processes such as high harmonic generation (HHG) and laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED).https://phys.org/news/2018-05-laser-driven-electron-recollision-molecular-orbital.html
Optics & Photonics Fri, 04 May 2018 14:00:02 EDTnews444643410Simulations suggest poor tropical regions likely to suffer more from global warmingA team of researchers from the Netherlands, France and the U.K. has found via simulation that poorer tropical regions are likely to suffer more than other areas from global warming. In their paper published on the open access site Science Advances, the group describes building their model and what it showed.https://phys.org/news/2018-05-simulations-poor-tropical-regions-global.html
Environment Thu, 03 May 2018 10:02:22 EDTnews444560532Innovative nanotransistor for easy measurement of electrolyte concentration in bloodTesting the blood of patients that doctors believe may be suffering from an electrolyte imbalance is usually a major effort because various selective tests have to be performed. Electrolytes are certain nutrients or chemicals in the body that carry out a number of important functions, such as regulating the heartbeat. A disruption of the electrolyte balance can be dangerous. Researchers working in the field of chemistry are examining the chemical compounds of electrolytes, which are partly split into ions and conduct electrical currents. Remco Hartkamp, tenure-track lecturer of computational chemical physics at the Department of Process & Energy, developed a new method, together with researchers from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France and the NTT Basic Research Laboratories in Japan, that will make it easier to measure the concentration of different electrolytes in the body using a nanotransistor. The results of the research were published this month in the Nature Materials: "Selective layer-free blood serum ionogram based on ion-specific interactions with a nanotransistor."https://phys.org/news/2018-05-nanotransistor-easy-electrolyte-blood.html
Nanomaterials Wed, 02 May 2018 08:29:08 EDTnews444468519Research demonstrates new approach to study properties of nanodropletsResearchers have found new methods to measure the internal pressure and surface tension of nano-sized drops of liquid like those involved in cloud formation and airborne pollutants to study how they behave in different environments. https://phys.org/news/2018-04-approach-properties-nanodroplets.html
Condensed Matter Mon, 30 Apr 2018 07:53:55 EDTnews444293628Partial mechanical unfolding may regulate protein functionA study carried out as a collaborative approach between University of Tampere, Finland, and Imperial College London has shown that mechanically regulated proteins talin and α-catenin have stable intermediates during mechanical unfolding. The stable unfolding intermediates are formed by three α-helices.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-partial-mechanical-unfolding-protein-function.html
Cell & Microbiology Mon, 30 Apr 2018 05:26:05 EDTnews444284758Face recognition for galaxies: Artificial intelligence brings new tools to astronomyA machine learning method called "deep learning," which has been widely used in face recognition and other image- and speech-recognition applications, has shown promise in helping astronomers analyze images of galaxies and understand how they form and evolve.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-recognition-galaxies-artificial-intelligence-tools.html
Astronomy Mon, 23 Apr 2018 12:10:22 EDTnews443704210Simulations suggest Saturn may have helped create Jupiter's big moonsA team of researchers from France and the U.S. has created a computer simulation of the development of the solar system focusing on Jupiter and the origins of its moons. In their paper uploaded to the arXiv preprint server, the group describes the simulation showing that Saturn may have played a role in the creation of Jupiter's largest moons.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-simulations-saturn-jupiter-big-moons.html
Space Exploration Fri, 20 Apr 2018 08:50:01 EDTnews443428364Atoms may hum a tune from grand cosmic symphonyResearchers playing with a cloud of ultracold atoms uncovered behavior that bears a striking resemblance to the universe in microcosm. Their work, which forges new connections between atomic physics and the sudden expansion of the early universe, was published April 19 in Physical Review X and featured in Physics.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-atoms-tune-grand-cosmic-symphony.html
Quantum Physics Thu, 19 Apr 2018 10:54:17 EDTnews443354042A scale-up nanoporous membrane centrifuge for reverse osmosis desalination without foulingRecent research published in a paper in TECHNOLOGY reported a novel design of a scale-up nanoporous membrane centrifuge (see Figure 1 (a), (b), (c), and (d)) proposed for reverse osmosis desalination, with proof of concept demonstrated through large scale molecular dynamics simulations.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-scale-up-nanoporous-membrane-centrifuge-reverse.html
Materials Science Thu, 19 Apr 2018 10:44:54 EDTnews443353486Novel thermal phases of topological quantum matter in the labFor the first time, a group of researchers from Universidad Complutense de Madrid, IBM, ETH Zurich, MIT and Harvard University have observed topological phases of matter of quantum states under the action of temperature or certain types of experimental imperfections. The experiment was conducted using quantum simulator at IBM.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-thermal-phases-topological-quantum-lab.html
Quantum Physics Wed, 18 Apr 2018 06:23:19 EDTnews443251376Machine learning techniques may reveal cause-effect relationships in protein dynamics dataMachine learning algorithms excel at finding complex patterns within big data, so researchers often use them to make predictions. Researchers are pushing this emerging technology beyond finding correlations to help uncover hidden cause-effect relationships and drive scientific discoveries.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-machine-techniques-reveal-cause-effect-relationships.html
Condensed Matter Tue, 17 Apr 2018 11:00:05 EDTnews443165404Extremely fast dives help peregrine falcons maneuver to catch agile preyComputer simulations of peregrine falcon attacks show that the extreme speeds reached during dives from high altitudes enhance the raptors' ability to execute maneuvers needed to nab agile prey that would otherwise escape. Robin Mills and colleagues of the University of Groningen, Netherlands, and Oxford University, UK, report this discovery in PLOS Computational Biology.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-extremely-fast-peregrine-falcons-maneuver.html
Plants & Animals Thu, 12 Apr 2018 14:00:01 EDTnews442734150Student develops gaming technology for environmental scientific researchA Ph.D. student at the University of Manchester has developed a new method and software for using computer game technology for complex scientific and engineering simulations.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-student-gaming-technology-environmental-scientific.html
Software Thu, 12 Apr 2018 07:33:31 EDTnews442737200How to turn light into atomic vibrationsSheet-like materials can have intriguing properties that could benefit devices from flexible electronics to solar cells. Researchers think they can customize the properties of these materials by using light pulses to rapidly switch the materials from one state to another. For example, light pulses could turn an electrical insulator into a conductor. But the ability to do this depends on how efficiently the light's energy is transferred to the material's atomic nuclei. Now, researchers have shown, for the first time, that the conversion of light to atomic vibrations in thin sheets of molybdenum diselenide is very fast and efficient. In fact, the conversion is nearly 100 percent efficient and occurs in a trillionth of a second.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-atomic-vibrations.html
Nanophysics Tue, 10 Apr 2018 09:40:01 EDTnews442570172Quantum simulator offers faster route for prime factorizationFactoring very large numbers into their prime "building blocks" is extremely difficult for classical computers, and this difficulty underlies the security of many cryptographic algorithms. While it's easy to factor the number 20 as the product of the primes 2 x 2 x 5, for example, factoring larger numbers becomes exponentially more difficult when using classical factoring algorithms.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-quantum-simulator-faster-route-prime.html
Quantum Physics Tue, 10 Apr 2018 09:30:01 EDTnews442546784'Frogs' and 'mushrooms' bubble up in quantum fluidsQuantum fluids may mix in very weird ways, according to new computer simulations of exotic states of matter known as Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs).https://phys.org/news/2018-04-frogs-mushrooms-quantum-fluids.html
Quantum Physics Wed, 04 Apr 2018 16:27:14 EDTnews442078026Physicists demonstrate demixing behavior of rotating particlesPhysicists from Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg and Heinrich-Heine Universität Düsseldorf have demonstrated that demixing occurs in systems made up of macroscopic particles rotating in opposite directions and that particles turning in either a clockwise or counter-clockwise direction form homogeneous groups. The researchers used miniature robots manufactured using 3-D printing methods for their experiment. The results have now been published in the renowned journal Nature Communications.https://phys.org/news/2018-04-physicists-demixing-behavior-rotating-particles.html
General Physics Wed, 04 Apr 2018 05:20:18 EDTnews442038009Simulations document self-assembly of proteins and DNAWhat makes particles self-assemble into complex biological structures? Often, this phenomenon is due to the competition between forces of attraction and repulsion, produced by electric charges in various sections of the particles. In nature, these phenomena often occur in particles that are suspended in a medium—referred to as colloidal particles—such as proteins, DNA and RNA. To facilitate self-assembly, it is possible to "decorate" various sites on the surface of such particles with different charges, called patches.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-simulations-document-self-assembly-proteins-dna.html
General Physics Wed, 28 Mar 2018 10:11:54 EDTnews441450708Is glass transition driven by thermodynamics?Glassy substances are everywhere, yet this state of matter is not completely understood. The basic picture is clear enough—glasses are solids that lack the regular atomic structure of a crystal. How and why they form, however, are questions that have kept physicists busy for decades. Now, research from Japan has shown that glass formation can be understood if liquid structure is properly described.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-glass-transition-driven-thermodynamics.html
Condensed Matter Tue, 27 Mar 2018 05:16:25 EDTnews441346571Cosmologists create record-breaking simulation of galaxy formationBy understanding the stars and their origins, we learn more about where we come from. However, the vastness of the galaxy—let alone the entire universe—means experiments to understand its origins are expensive, difficult and time consuming. In fact, experiments are impossible for studying certain aspects of astrophysics, meaning that in order to gain greater insight into how galaxies formed, researchers rely on supercomputing.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-cosmologists-record-breaking-simulation-galaxy-formation.html
Astronomy Tue, 20 Mar 2018 05:51:15 EDTnews440743866Droughts in Mongolia—past, present and futureThe extreme wet and dry periods Mongolia has experienced in the late 20th and early 21st centuries are rare but not unprecedented and future droughts may be no worse, according to an international research team that includes a University of Arizona scientist.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-droughts-mongoliapast-future.html
Environment Wed, 14 Mar 2018 14:00:01 EDTnews440247895Chimpanzees help researchers improve machine learning of animal simulationsResearchers at The University of Manchester are using computer simulations of chimpanzees to improve not only our understanding of how the animals walk, but also the technology we use to do it.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-chimpanzees-machine-animal-simulations.html
Plants & Animals Tue, 06 Mar 2018 19:00:10 EDTnews439576959Straightforward technique allows for accurate computer simulations of calcium signalingCalcium is essential for our bodies to function. Calcium ions enable cells to communicate with one another, allowing neurons to interact, muscles to contract, and the heart's muscle cells to synchronize and beat. To better understand these processes, in which calcium ions interact with biological molecules such as proteins, researchers often use computer simulations. But accurate models are challenging and computationally expensive.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-straightforward-technique-accurate-simulations-calcium.html
General Physics Tue, 06 Mar 2018 11:00:26 EDTnews439551311Want more efficient simulators? Store time in a quantum superpositionComputer models of systems such as a city's traffic flow or neural firing in the brain tends to use up a lot of memory. But a new approach with quantum simulators could significantly cut that memory use by taking a quantum approach to time. The only cost is a diminished record of the past.https://phys.org/news/2018-03-efficient-simulators-quantum-superposition.html
Quantum Physics Fri, 02 Mar 2018 10:10:20 EDTnews439207437